The Winter Surprises
by LucyMabely
Summary: After showing part of her novel to Team Natsu, Lucy gets some criticism from Erza. She searches for some inspiration, but her thoughts about that are put to the side when Gray tells her that he has to handle a mission alone. When Gray is unaware that he has part of her novel, will Lucy go after him to retrieve it and also get some nice surprises? GrayLu. Read & Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **The Winter Surprises**

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 **Lucy's POV**

Today might've been one of the coldest winter days that Magnolia experienced, but it still felt nice for me to look through one window in the guild to see the snow falling down from the sky. The white snow was as cute as the little snowflakes that were also falling down to the ground, and I had simply been looking outside while relaxing in my warm pink winter coat that matched my pink winter hat and brown snow boots. I sat down at a table with Natsu, Erza, and Gray while we all wondered how cold the temperature would get, but I also wanted our minds to be off of that.

I kindly smiled at my friends while showing them some sheets of paper that were filled with the plot and details of the next chapter in a novel that I was writing, and my cocoa brown eyes were filled with joy as Erza was mainly reading what I had written. The fact that I was writing about a girl who went on a quest for some items called the Elemental Stones seemed exciting enough while the first four chapters were all well-received by my friends, but I did hope that they would not mind about the fact that the chapter was just halfway completed.

Erza seemed to smile with delight from how I made the two main characters finally express their love for each other, and they were going to be in a relationship. I personally wasn't thinking about having a relationship for myself, but having these two characters build chemistry from being friends to now being a couple was certainly nice. Erza handed my papers back to me while I felt pretty happy about what I had written, but she started to slightly frown at me while folding her arms. Was there something wrong with anything I wrote?

"Your chapter about Suzuna and Daisuke going through the snowy forest to reach the icy castle is nice, but why have the main enemy be an icy delinquent wizard who wishes to freeze the town?" Erza asked me with a frown on her face, curious about my decision.

Natsu said with a teasing grin on his face while looking at Gray, "That sounds like something the ice stripper would do."

Gray responded to him in an offended tone while glaring back at him, "You really think I'm as dumb as you, Flame-brain?"

The two of them were quickly silenced by Erza, who gave them a death glare that made them be quite scared, and I simply giggled from seeing Natsu and Gray start to hug each other like they were best friends. The sight of Gray being offended by Natsu made Erza widen her eyes while she seemed to remember something important, and I got to see her glance at a stack of papers that were on another brown table. Since the matter concerned Gray to where Erza got up and asked him to check something out, I felt like getting up from the table to go sit somewhere else.

I decided to go sit at another table that was near one of the guild's windows, simply turning to see the snow beautifully falling towards the ground, and I simply let my thoughts focus on my novel. If Erza thought that the villain for my next chapter was very typical, then I would definitely have to change that. After all, I wouldn't want Suzuna and Daisuke to fight a boring enemy after they had recently fought a clever pair of mages that respectively wielded Wind Magic and Plant Magic with a good amount of potency.

My mind started to think of how it would seem fun if they had to fight the antagonist in a snowboarding competition or stop them from causing an avalanche, but I hadn't done much research on magic involving ice. Making my characters try to prevent an avalanche also seemed like it was something typical to do in a snowy setting, so I would have to think outside the box. As I put the index finger of my left hand to my lower lip, however, Gray suddenly walked over to me like he had some important news to share with the whole team. He seemed to be feeling confident, but why?

"Hey, Lucy! Erza told me that someone specifically requested me for a mission, and they even have a long list of things for me to do when I meet them. I wonder if I'm guarding a princess or something." Gray explained to me in a calm manner, before smiling at the task.

I asked him in a concerned tone while hoping he would be okay, also feeling disappointed that he might be gone for quite some time, "Where are you going, Gray? Wouldn't it better for us to go with you?"

He replied to me in a calm tone, before glancing at the stack of papers that was next to mine, "Well, the client said she wanted me to come immediately and come alone. The reward is pretty hefty, too, but she may not reward me if I don't follow her conditions."

His dark blue eyes shifted back to me, and I simply got up from my chair while hoping that he wouldn't get severely hurt. This new mission for him was actually taking place a few weeks after our guild had won the Grand Magic Games, but Gray did recently lose against a mage who was taking the job of capturing an outlaw who we had to apprehend in Lanakila Town. That mage surprising used Ice Magic, which took us all by surprise, but Gray couldn't even get his chance to hit the criminal because of how someone from another guild took care of the job.

Natsu had been bummed out about that, but not as disappointed as Gray. He had been excited about that job, too, and having the reward be stolen away from him like that was horrible. I could understand how he felt bd to lose against someone, so he must've been ecstatic to get this chance that felt like sweet redemption. As I kept looking at his dark blue eyes and then let my gaze shift to his blue winter coat, Gray went back to the table and looked back at me with assurance of him coming back safely. He picked up a stack of papers and walked out of the guild quickly, so I could only wish him good luck on this cold winter day.

I walked back to the table where Natsu sat with Erza while they both seemed like it would be weird to not have Gray fight alongside us on missions for the next few days, but I decided that word of comfort wouldn't work for them right now. The cold wind loudly blew into the guild, indicating that this winter day might get windy, and that prompted me to pick up my stack of papers. I kindly said goodbye to Erza and Natsu as I decided to run back home to my apartment, but taking one look at one of the papers of my novel made me start to chuckle. I didn't recall making Suzuna demand gourmet blueberry pie with blueberry sauce on the side, but at least I kept her name right.

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 **How was this story? Did you like that? I merely made this as a fun little one-shot that slightly shipped Gray x Lucy, but I will make more chapters if you all wish for the story to be updated. Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **Small Snowflakes & Big Mix-ups**

* * *

 **Gray's POV**

This mission that I had to take alone required me to ride the train all the way up to the northern town of Seondan, and I felt pretty glad to get off that the town's train station. Seondan Town was quite cold in the wintertime, and I walked past some people who were talking about vicious blizzards raging in the tundra that was south of this place. This was certainly a chilly area, but I found myself smiling with feelings of warmth from being excited about this S-Class mission. If I had to stop an avalanche or take down some outlaws, that would be fun.

I walked into Seondan Town to see that it was lively with the residents and tourists shopping at different stores that mainly seemed to be selling items that were popular in the winter season, and one concession stand was selling boxes of chocolate cookies while it was next to the fashion store. M sense of smell may not have been as great as Natsu's, but I could easily figure out that scent of chocolate chip cookies. Buying a nice box of cookies would be nice, but I wouldn't want the client to think I was trying to offer them the cookies as a gift.

As the cold winds blew and dainty snowflakes fell from the grey sky, I started walking down the street where the stores and concession stands were across from each other. I had no interest in buying anything from them, and I also doubted that the prices of things would be cheap like in Magnolia. My main goal was to meet with the client, and the one good thing about walking through the beautiful white snow to meet with her was that I could hear the Christmas songs playing from the radios that belonged to the people running the concession stands.

My dark blue eyes could see something up ahead as I kept going down the street, and they widened in surprise from seeing two large light blue icicles be on the left and right sides of a path that seemingly led to a regal-looking castle. Even though it was somewhat distant from me as I went in that direction, I could see that the castle had four cylindrical light blue brick towers that were attached to the rectangular dark blue building. The castle looked like it was pretty tall, but was there I had to meet with the client? My footsteps took me closer and closer to it because of how the castle seemed so cool, and I hoped to get inside.

"If that castle is where I have to meet the client, I hope that she's not some stuck-up princess." I said aloud to myself with a slight frown on my face while getting near the icicles.

A female voice responded to me in a somewhat offended manner, before the girl jumped out from the ground to surprise me, "You're already wondering if I'm not a good person? My, my. How uncouth of you."

I exclaimed in a surprised manner while seeing her get the white snow out of her hair and off of her body, "Wow, that's a weird meeting spot! You really startled me, lady!"

She calmly informed me that her name was Suzuna Azure, and she was the princess of Seondan Town. Apparently, she hid down in the snow because of how this time of the year was when bandits would show up and she didn't want to be spotted easily for them to abduct her. The princess had dark blue hair that went down to her shoulders while her pupil-less eyes were light blue, and she simply wore a sapphire blue winter coat that had four white buttons on the bottom of it. Her snow boots were black, and she started looking at me in a curious manner.

That prompted me to just introduce myself to her, and she told me that my blue winter coat looked like something from a boring town like Magnolia. That only made me give her a look of displeasure, and I decided to just ask her about why she even needed me to be here. If this was an S-Class mission, then where was the danger or urgent thing that I needed to handle? She started running towards the castle, which made me run after her, and she clearly wasn't going to disclose that information to me right away. Since she wouldn't tell me anything, I pulled out her list from the left pocket of my coat.

I got out the papers to remind myself of the list of things that she would need me to do while I stayed in the castle with her, but something felt off as I tried to read the list. It talked about Suzuna and Daisuke wanting to defeat an evil villain who wanted to freeze the town, and I started to look confused at these papers. Suzuna mentioned nothing about finding Elemental Stones or being on a quest to find them, and it seemed like a story. After seeing those notes, though, my eyes widened in shock. I actually felt like yelling, but that might cause an avalanche to occur.

This chapter of Lucy's story that she showed the team was now with me, and she had Suzuna's list of things that needed to be on this job. That princess already called me uncouth for thinking she would be stuck-up, and soon she might call me an idiot for getting her important list switched with a chapter that really needed some work done. I didn't want to harshly criticize Lucy's work, but she could've written something more interesting. If I said that to her face, however, then she might tell me to write something better for her to critique it.

"Gray, hurry up! My father is not home, so don't be intimidated to come inside!" Suzuna shouted to me in a nice manner while she was almost at the doorstep.

I asked her in a calm manner while running past the icicles and going on the snowy path towards the castle, "Wait, your father isn't home? Wouldn't he want to be here for the purpose of telling me to guard you while escorting you somewhere?"

Suzuna explained to me after giggling cutely, kindly smiling while snowflakes fell around her, "You're not taking me to any towns, Gray. You're the ice-wielding wizard from Fairy Tail, and my father requested me to send that flyer for you to train me in improving my Ice Magic. I'm an important person, so this is an S-Class mission."

From hearing that, I could only walk towards her while looking pretty baffled. S-Class missions didn't usually require mages to tutor people on how to improve their magic, but Suzuna's father was probably thinking about the possibility of her becoming a mage for the town's legal guild someday. I heard that the guild was known as Kissaki Blizzard, and some of their wizards could use Water Magic like how Juvia could wield it. If I ever had to take Suzuna to that guild in this town, I hope the girls wouldn't crazily fall in love with me like how Juvia obsesses over me.

She pushed open the two sapphire blue doors for me to enter the castle with her, and I really started to wonder how to tell her that she needed to give me a copy of that list. I remember seeing something about serving her gourmet blueberry pie for dessert, but that was all I could remember. Hopefully, she wouldn't yell at me for needing her to tell me everything that had to be done. As I was going towards the castle and feeling glad that we'd both be in a warmer place, I did wonder if Lucy noticed that our notes got switched. If she figured it out, then she'd definitely want them back.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in Magnolia... (Lucy's POV)**

After I had arrived home from the guild, my first priority was shutting the door behind me to not let the coldness from outside make the apartment become chilly. My sheets of paper were on the brown desk while I currently sat down on my bed's pink comforter, and my mind just couldn't focus primarily on getting the chapter finished. It wasn't due to me feeling somewhat stuck about how to make the chapter be revised to where it would be really well-received by other people, but I felt worried about how Gray was doing on his mission.

Gray was certainly one of the best wizards in the Fairy Tail guild, as he could fight evenly with Natsu while he also tried to look at situations with logic, but the fact that he went on a mission that could be dangerous really made me hope that he would be okay. Before the S-Class exam that occurred on Tenrou Island, Gray actually once told me that he really aspired to be an S-Class wizard. The fact that the exam got cancelled due to Grimoire Heart showing up and also dealing with the seven-year timeskip really made Gray feel as if he lost that chance to be an elite member of the guild.

When he got that exciting news earlier today about the job, I genuinely felt happy for him. Even though Gray wasn't an S-Class mage yet, seeing him so pleased to handle that task made me happy. I just didn't want to tell him about the possibility of getting injured on that job or being severely mangled by an enemy, though. I didn't want Gray to feel nervous about the job, since I could see how he was extremely upset after losing the Hidden event in the Grand Magic Games. I experienced my own failure on that same day, but I had to be supportive of him and not put doubts in his head.

As I got off of my bed for a moment, my thoughts were focused on how I felt about Gray. Just like how Suzuna and Daisuke were only friends in the novel that I was writing, Gray was someone who I only saw as a friend. However, friends could always show that they cared for each other. The main characters in my story didn't exactly have any nice moments between them to show much support for each other, since I wasn't trying to make them be a couple, but maybe they could interact with a new character who was somewhat like Gray. Those thoughts inspired me into walking towards the desk, and I'd definitely finish the chapter.

"Wow, I made this tenth page have some eloquent writing. Hopefully, I can keep that up and have Suzuna continue to make her ice spells be strong to where they don't break easily like glass. That's really funny, and-" I calmly said to myself as I smiled cutely and giggled at how my writing style was very different than how I usually wrote, only to comically look shocked at the paper.

I took out that paper and the ones above it to hold them in my left hand, seeing that the handwriting was far too elegant to even be mine, and these papers actually turned out to be a detailed list of the things that someone wanted. The first page informed me that the writer of this list was named Suzuna Azure, and I recalled hearing that name somewhere before. Perhaps I had seen her in one issue of Sorcerer Magazine, and she was apparently a wizard who obtained fame because of her father being on Sabertooth's winning team in five years of the Grand Magic Games before eventually leaving the guild to make his hometown thrive.

Her father was probably just a reserve member on the team, since he was most likely there before Yukino had gotten to be on the team, but that wasn't majorly important right now. Gray must've accidentally taken the chapter for my novel instead of Suzuna's list that he needed, and one thought entered my mind. What if he accidentally showed her my chapter that was incomplete and not even seeming totally great? She might end up having the audacity to laugh at my hard work, and I wouldn't want her to tell the paparazzi about it.

I really didn't think that Gray was clumsy enough to take my papers, but he must have been so excited for that job to where he quickly wanted to go meet up with her. Well, I would have to see him in that town to get my notes back. I wouldn't want Suzuna laughing at me, but the fact that my female main character had the same name as her could cause bad assumptions to occur. I'd definitely not want Suzuna to think I was writing about her getting frozen in ice, as that might seem like I was mocking her, and it was purely coincidental.

Feeling some frustration at the situation, I bit down on my lower lip while not liking the thought of going out into the sheer cold again. However, I also thought about the possibility of Gray losing my papers or trying to write that story on his own. Not having any idea of what he would write caused my body to slightly tremble with some nervousness, but I managed to get up from the desk chair. I put the papers back in the order that they were organized, and I narrowed my cocoa brown eyes as I picked them up. I proceeded to run to my front door and go outside, only to nearly bump into Natsu.

"Hey, Luce! I was just wondering if you'd give me some lunch to eat." Natsu told me with the typical grin of goofiness on his face, rubbing the back of his head with his right arm.

I replied to him in a somewhat impatient manner, running off towards Magnolia's train station, "Sorry, Natsu! I have to go get something from Gray, and it's really urgent! Princess Suzuna might read it, and she might laugh!"

Natsu asked me with a smile on his face as he proceeded to run beside me, snickering about the situation, "Lucy, do you not want her to read your love letter to him or something? Isn't she that rich girl in Seondan?"

I responded to him with a confident smile on my face, before giving him an irritated glare, "Thank you for that information, Natsu! Now I know where to go! Also, I did not write him a love letter!"

Before Natsu could say anymore about the situation, he ended up sliding towards some trash cans after slipping on a banana peel that was left on the street. He would definitely be sure to put it in the garbage can, and I would be sure to keep Gray from doing anything crazy with my story. Plus, I needed to give him this list for him to not get in trouble. Some princesses could be pretty harsh when their servants or tutors made blunders like this, and I would be glad to explain the situation to her. Hopefully, she wouldn't deny Gray his reward money.

Gray may have just been having to work for her, but I hoped that I wouldn't walk in on him battling one of her enemies. After all, he took an S-Class job where anything could happen. If I walked in on Gray helping her defeat a powerful criminal, then it would definitely be the wrong time to confront him about getting our notes switched up. This situation wasn't exactly fun for me, but I did wonder if Gray was having some fun with Suzuna in that town. They were probably enjoying the wealthiness of her lifestyle, and I would enjoy seeing Gray give me back my papers for me to continue my novel.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 2? After some requests, I decided to extend the story. Feel free to tell me your thoughts on this chapter. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **Hot Coffees & Frosty Mages**

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 **Gray's POV**

As I entered the castle with Suzuna, my dark blue eyes widened in a surprised manner from seeing how the interior of her home had light blue walls with sapphire blue carpeting to match. There was a staircase on the left side of the castle's foyer, and it would lead people to the upper rooms of the castle while a white chandelier hung from the ceiling to make the place be brighter. My eyes soon shifted to a doorway that was directly across from where I stood with Suzuna, and that doorway was bordered by two sapphire blue statuettes of her blowing kisses while winking with her right eye.

I took some steps towards that doorway for the purpose of seeing what was in the next room, and it appeared to just be the dining room area that featured two women in maid outfits while they seemed to be pouring hot water into some cups. I turned around to face Suzuna, who merely gave me a nice smile while she gently twiddled her thumbs, and I wondered if talking about her fancy lifestyle would keep all the attention off of the list that was now in Lucy's possession. If Suzuna found out that I lost her list, she might get heated to where hot tea would be thrown at me.

Suzuna began to look at me in a pleased manner, acting like she was totally glad that I would be helping her with strengthening her Ice Magic, and I actually felt good about helping someone else get stronger. The training couldn't be accomplished only in a single day, which made me be pretty aware that I would be staying here for days or weeks, and I gave her a calm smile while actually being interested in viewing the techniques that she could wield with her Ice Magic. This felt like a good time to start training with Suzuna, and I decided to stand beside her while assuming that she'd give me a tour of this castle.

She started walking into the dining room, which made me follow her, and I got to see that the dining table was in an azure blue color while it also seemed lengthy enough for at least seventeen people to have a feast together. The regal-looking golden chairs were making me wonder how many jewels Suzuna's father spent on them, and the fancy white cups on the table seemed to be filled with hot tea that had clouds of steam slowly rising up from the liquid. Before I could even sit down in a chair, I noticed a woman with long green hair that fell down to her hips while she wore a black maid outfit.

"Welcome back, Miss Suzuna. Lunch will be served to you and your guest shortly, so please wait for your steamed pork buns with grilled shrimp." The maid told Suzuna in a calm tone while smiling, having kindness in her brown eyes while she curtsied.

Suzuna responded nicely while smiling smiling back, loving her routine, "Thank you, Haruka. Also, the wizard next to me shall be training me later and he spent hours on a train ride to this town. Be sure to give him seconds, and then he can complete the next task on his list."

I commented on the conversation while giving Haruka a look of assurance, not wanting to seem suspicious, "Yeah, I'll totally do the next task on the list. Suzuna is so good with her lists to where she won't have to rewrite a thing!"

As Haruka walked towards the kitchen area that was on the left side of the dining room, I decided to sit down in one of chairs while wondering how I would avoid Suzuna's possible wrath for losing her list and mixing it up with Lucy's chapter that needed to be fixed. Suzuna went to the other side of the table for the purpose of sitting across from me, which prompted me to look down at the hot tea, and a few quick sniffs of the drink informed me that it was hot coffee in the flavor of peppermint mocha. Natsu bought cups of peppermint mocha coffee from a concession stand in Magnolia last week, and I almost wished that he could comically distract Suzuna by getting lost in her castle for hours.

I held the cup of tea by its handle, before drinking a few sips of it, and I quickly placed the cup back down on the white plate from seeing Suzuna give me a cheerful smile. She appeared to be smiling at me in a way that displayed her happiness, and I merely looked back at her while trying to focus on the coffee. There were small bowls of sugar cubes near our cups, but I did not want to seem impolite around this princess by using up her sugar cubes. Even if I asked for some powdery sugar, she would probably think I'm rude.

Speaking of rudeness, I feigned a very innocent smile at Suzuna while thinking about how I would have to rewrite Lucy's story for her to not seem offended. I had caught a glimpse of Lucy's writings that featured Suzuna getting frozen in ice, as well as being damaged by it, and there was no way that I'd let this princess think that someone from Fairy Tail had the audacity to mock her. I turned around for a moment to see the staircase, and a guest room with some paper was the best thing I could hope to have in this castle. Some pens with blue ink would be nice, too, and I'd probably have to explain the situation to Lucy when I got back home to Magnolia.

Suzuna sipped her coffee in a loud manner, before placing it on the plate, and she sighed nicely at how her coffee tasted quite delicious. I didn't think that princesses would sip their drinks loudly, since Lucy was the Heartfilia heiress who sometimes reminded Natsu to have manners, but Suzuna probably needed help with certain table manners. I got up from my chair for a moment to get two more bowls of sugar cubes, and I quickly came back to my seat while placing them next to my cup of hot coffee. As I kept to myself, however, Suzuna lightly cleared her throat.

"Gray, how many lumps of sugar do you want in your coffee? Why are you barely drinking it?" Suzuna asked me with a curious facial expression, before kindly smiling.

I replied with a somewhat flustered look, not wanting to make her coffee seem bad, "I'd like 27 cubes of it, Suzuna! 37 lumps of sugar would make it sweeter, too!"

Suzuna asked me while looking surprised, "Gray, you want that much sugar in your coffee?"

I responded to her in a comical manner, trying to keep the princess focused on the coffee, "You know, maybe I should cut back to only having 36 lumps of sugar!"

That prompted Suzuna to giggle, before simply saying that I had a wacky sense of humor, so I felt pretty glad about making her laugh. We didn't have the best first impressions of each other in the snow-covered town, but I wanted her to not hate me while we would be training. If she didn't have a good bond with me, then we wouldn't be able to work well together. Training Suzuna to the best that she could possibly be would make her father proud, and he would give me a hefty reward for doing a great job. Suzuna drank down the rest of her coffee that had ten sugar cubes in it, and she'd definitely be hyped up for our training later.

She even placed seven sugar cubes into my peppermint mocha coffee, and they dissolved rapidly in the hot drink. Since I did not want this coffee to get cold, I proceeded to drink it down quite fast while loving how it tasted quite sweet. The peppermint mocha flavor was quite popular in the winter season, especially here in Seondan Town, and Suzuna probably had tons of peppermint mocha coffee in this castle. I gave her one last smile before Haruka walked towards us with some white plates that had food on them, and it would be good to eat lunch while the list wouldn't be our main focus before training.

* * *

 **Five hours later, in Seondan Town... (Lucy's POV)**

After taking the train to the town of Seondan, I walked past some concession stands while trying to ignore how the temperature had dropped to where the air would be quite cold. The wind that blew past me felt chilly, but having a winter coat made me feel somewhat relieved about how I probably wouldn't end up freezing to death in this place. My current goal was to find Gray, since he got us both into this crazy situation, and I would be glad to get back those papers for my chapter. Gray's list of things to do for Suzuna was in the left pocket of my pink winter coat, and I would give the correct papers to him after throwing some snowballs in his direction.

I noticed some female mages walking out of a place that appeared to be their guild's building, and Gray might've stopped by that building on his way to meet the princess. Her castle was somewhat far from my current location, but she could be training with Gray right now in the tundra that had vicious blizzards. I couldn't possibly go to that area, especially since the ice-wielding enemies in the tundra could be very dangerous, and I would probably just have to be patient with finding Gray. If my unfinished chapter was taken to the paparazzi by Suzuna Azure, then I would definitely become infamous.

There was a brown wooden sign next to that building, and the sign informed me that the building belonged to the guild known as Kissaki Blizzard. Their guild's building appeared to be dark brown with a sapphire blue pitched roof, and there were two arched windows on both sides of the doorway. The guild's symbol seemed to be above the door, and it was simply a blue snowflake. I smiled nicely while deciding to walk through the entrance that already had its two thin doors open, but simply walking into Kissaki Blizzard caused me to get a weird reaction.

Some of the guild members who sat down at light blue circular tables gave me puzzled looks, which was understandable because of how they never even met me before, and I took seven more steps into the guild while taking notice of the request board that was a near a window on the right side of the guild. As I began to notice how no one in the guild resembled a princess, a girl with long purple hair that fell to her ankles chose to get up from her seat. She wore a spaghetti strap violet dress with black frills while it only left her stomach exposed, and black frills were also on the bracelets that she wore on her wrists.

"Can we help you with something, or are you one of the new wizards taking jobs in the afternoon shift?" She asked in a calm tone, before giving me a disapproving frown.

I replied with a concerned facial expression, really needing to find my friend, "I'm just here to see if a guy named Gray Fullbuster ever stopped by your guild. You see, he has some of my important papers while he's doing something with Suzuna Azure."

The girl with violet hair and violet eyes responded in a rude tone while frowning, "We don't have anyone named Gray in our guild, but here's an idea. You should go to the castle that obviously looks fancy, since everyone knows that the rich Suzuna Azure lives there. Also, my name is Miyuki Katsuda and I live two streets west from the concession stand that sells peppermint mocha coffees."

My reply to Miyuki didn't seem like a response that had any obvious answers, but her rudeness wouldn't get me anywhere in my search for Gray. I decided to just turn around for the purpose of walking out of the guild, only to hear Miyuki let out an annoyed sigh, and I got to hear her mutter some words about how escorting me to Suzuna's castle was better than the thought of me yelling in confusion while triggering a massive avalanche. Miyuki walked towards me at a quick pace, before going past the spot where I stood, and I just had to follow her.

As I went outside, my cocoa brown eyes were filled with some curiosity from seeing Miyuki run to the concession stand that sold coffees. She smiled politely to the white-haired vendor who somewhat resembled Natsu while handing him 1,000 jewels that she pulled out of the right pocket of her dress, and Miyuki proceeded to hastily run towards the castle with the coffees in her hands. I ran after her while running fast, thinking that she could give Gray and Suzuna those drinks after I surprised them, and it seemed like my mix-up with Gray would be an easy matter to handle.

Miyuki ran straight ahead to an area that was bordered by two large icicles on its left and right sides, which caused that part of Seondan Town to really stand out, and I felt surprised to actually see the castle where Princess Azure resided. There was a green-haired woman who stood in front of the path that led to the castle's entrance doors, and she looked somewhat stern while appearing to act as a guard. That was interesting, since she looked like a maid, but I made sure to stand close to Miyuki for the purpose of avoiding possible trouble.

The woman chose to look at me, which made me have a determined facial expression from how I planned to see Gray, but trying to walk past her only caused the maid to extend her right arm for me to not be permitted to enter. I frowned at her while starting to impatiently tell her about my desire to see Gray, but she gave me a kind smile while starting a lecture about how Suzuna Azure couldn't accept visitors right now because of how she was exercising with her new icy instructor. That made me begin to smile, though, and I felt glad that Gray was here.

Miyuki told the woman in a calm tone while handing her the white cup that was in her left hand, "Haruka, I got your favorite coffee. If we're just touring the castle as wizards, then there's no problem."

Haruka replied kindly while accepting the coffee and stepping aside, "You and your guest can enter the castle, Miyuki. However, please don't stay inside after Princess Azure asks that the doors be locked at midnight."

Miyuki responded to her while walking up the path, looking somewhat annoyed, "As long as this blonde doesn't slow me down and waste my time, then we'll be fine."

That merely caused me to groan in an annoyed manner while running past the maid, and I made sure to run at high speeds to where I could reach the castle's front doors before Miyuki. I ran quite fast to where the doors were mere inches away from me, and I pushed them opened with my hands while looking determined to not let my story be jeopardized by Suzuna thinking that it would need to be public news for everyone to read. I started to pant softly from running, and I took some steps into the foyer that looked very amazing.

My eyes shifted to the left and right sides of the castle's foyer while I wondered if going through the doorway would lead me to a different set of stairs, but I soon heard the sounds of someone giggling in a pleased manner. It seemed like that person was in a room located upstairs, which prompted me to go up to the next floor, and could only take a few steps up the staircase before hearing Gray laugh happily. I recognized his voice, and that caused me to gasp in shock while not caring that Miyuki stood at the base of the staircase with an annoyed facial expression. Gray and Princess Suzuna must've been training, but something caused my heart to beat more while walking up the stairs. I really wanted my papers back, but I started feeling like Gray and I really needed to see each other.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 3? Did you like it? Sorry for the one-year wait, but I've been so busy! Anyway, please leave your thoughts on the chapter. Also, Miyuki is an OC of mine.**


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